Online listening on the up

Listening to radio via the internet is on the increase, with an extra two and half million people thought to have tuned in during the last six months. Podcasts are also more popular with six million of us downloading almost two a week.

In any given week, 9.4 million people listen to the radio via the internet, up from 8.1 million in November 2007, either live or through a listen again service.

The average user of listen again services listens to 1.8 programmes each week, with 44 per cent of people listening to podcasts in the evening. Three quarters of those listeners said the service has no impact on the amount of live radio to which they listen, while almost half said they are now listening to radio programmes to which they did not listen previously.

In addition, six million people have downloaded a Podcast (up from 4.3 million), and 3.7 million say they listen to a Podcast each week (up from 1.87 million). The average Podcast user subscribes to 3.6 Podcasts and spends just over an hour per week listening to them. Comedy and music continue to be the two favourite genres.

The survey, carried out by RAJAR was conducted during April and May 2008 by Ipsos MORI, using a sample of RAJAR respondents from the previous 6 months who had claimed to listen to the radio via the Internet or downloaded Podcasts, alongside respondents from the previous online survey (conducted in October – November 2007). The findings are based on the responses of 863 respondents who were asked to complete an online questionnaire.

Christel Lacaze, research manager, RAJAR comments: “Now in its second installment, this survey gives a unique insight into the behaviour of the online / offline audio community and the impact of new audio delivery formats on traditional live radio listening. It also provides perspective on the relative impact of each of these activities.”

The RAJAR Podcasting and Radio Listening Via Internet Survey can be downloaded by clicking [link=http://www.penelopejamespr.com/images/RAJARPodcasting&ListeningJune08.pdf]here[/link].